CUBA LIBRE

A local couple brings the long-forbidden culture of Cuba to St. Louis and vice versa

With the incredible  and highly unexpected  popularity of Buena Vista Social Club, a 1997 recording featuring neglected Cuban musical masters performing with guitarist/producer Ry Cooder, the allure of Cuba as a tourist destination increased dramatically. Albums by jazz pianist Gonzalo Rubalcaba and releases by bands such as Cubanismo and musicians like Chucho Valdes have also made it evident that 40 years of rule by Fidel Castro have had little effect on the deep reservoir of Cuba's musical culture.

But as a result of the strained relations between the U.S. and Cuban governments, getting to Cuba to hear this music in person can take some doing. There's always the illegal route  heading to Cuba through Mexico or Canada without obtaining official permission from the U.S. Department of the Treasury's Office of Foreign Assets Control. OFAC issues official travel licenses for a variety of reasons, ranging from professional research and educational purposes to religious activities.

But there is a way to travel to Cuba officially and also get closer to the heart of Cuban music and dance than you may have believed possible. And that route leads right through St. Louis and a company called Caribbean Music and Dance Programs (CMDP). The company is owned and operated by Thor Anderson and Jane Bowling-Anderson, with the support of a small group of dedicated employees.

Jennifer Silverberg

Jane Bowling-Anderson and Thor Anderson, whose St. Louis-based Caribbean Music and Dance Programs makes official travel to Cuba possible.

CMDP offers several trips a year to Cuba, and the focus is on two-week immersions into various styles of Cuban music and dance  workshops that provide instruction in topics such as rumba, contemporary percussion and Afro-Cuban folkloric dance and music. There's even a cross-country tour that takes participants outside Havana to cities such as Santiago, Trinidad and Guantanamo that rarely see tourists  especially Americans.

Jane, three days removed from a seven-week visit to Cuba in which she oversaw three different workshops, offers me a cup of strong Cuban coffee cut with milk and sugar as we talk on the deck of her West County home  the current location of the CMDP office. Inside, several people sit at an array of computers, faxes and phones, making reservations for upcoming workshops and overseeing arrangements for two workshops that have just begun in Brazil.

During our conversation, we're joined at various times by Thor, taking a break from his 9-to-5 job in health-services management; their son, Curtis, who handles marketing for the company; and Curtis Lanoue, a part-time employee who played a pivotal early role in the Andersons' involvement with CMDP.

"Jane and I went to a Latin dance at the Casa Loma back in '94, and we met Curtis through a mutual friend," explains Thor Anderson. "He told us about this place in San Francisco that did tours of Cuba with dance and music workshops. I'd been playing percussion since high school, and at that time I was playing with the Sambistas (a St. Louis group that explores Latin American and South American percussion traditions) and was very interested in Latin percussion. And Jane has a strong background in dance, so we decided to send for a brochure ourselves."

For their 1995 vacation, the Andersons had planned a bicycling trip in Germany, but when Thor sustained an injury they began exploring alternatives. Eventually they turned up the CMDP brochure.

"One thing led to another, and I decided I really wanted to go," recalls Thor. "Jane had some serious reservations about Cuba, but she didn't want me going alone and eventually decided to go."

That first trip to an Afro-Cuban folkloric music and dance workshop soon turned into an annual event for the Andersons. "We had a wonderful time," says Jane. "It was a great experience, and there was no question that we wanted to go again  and again." They shifted their trips to February and participation in a workshop on popular music and dance, and the results soon paid off back in St. Louis for Thor.

"I really wanted to play with El Caribe Tropical, because they were the best Latin band in St. Louis," he explains. "And once I had the chance to learn Latin rhythms from Cuban masters on that first workshop, I was finally able to start working with El Caribe as a substitute that fall. Eventually, I ended up being the conguero player with the band, and I'm still playing with them."

The Andersons moved from the role of avid participants in CMDP workshops to ownership of the company in 1998, when the original owners  four women who happened to meet at a dance workshop in Cuba in the late 1980s  decided it was time to sell the company.

"When they decided to sell, they sent out a prospectus," says Thor. "At first we just thought we'd be passive investors, helping keep the company going. But it turned out there weren't many offers, so we concluded we were going to have to take a chance and buy it ourselves." "It turned out to be the best thing we've ever done," adds Jane.

The Andersons officially became the owners of CMDP in February 1998, and the office moved to St. Louis in May. The original owners helped them through a transition period during the 1998 workshops, but this year the Andersons are running things on their own.